Nepali Ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay on Monday urged all the stakeholders to cultivate positive approach and work on resolving the difference between Nepal and India as India imposed ‘blockade’ is making the ordinary lives difficult in the country.

Upadhyay, who has been in Nepal for the last few days to consult with political leadership on steps to be taken to improve the bilateral ties, expressed hope that the friction between the two neighbours could be resolved within a couple of days.

The southern neighbour has imposed unofficial blockade on Nepal by showing dissatisfaction over Nepal’s constitution at a time when some Madhesi parties have been imposing banda in the Tarai since the last one and half months.

Addressing an event, organised by the Nepal India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI), Upadhyay said every stakeholder should work on resolving the ongoing differences. “There have been some positive talks with the Indian side and I am sure things will be resolved within a couple of days,” he added.

A meeting between Commerce Minister Sunil Bahadur Thapa and Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Monday evening is expected to yield some fruitful development, he said. Upadhyay also stressed the need for enhancing country’s storage capacity to ensure supplies of essential items during such crises. “We need to keep stocks of items like petroleum products for at least three months. Discussions apart, there hasn’t been much progress on this front,” Upadhyay said.

Speaking on the occasion, National Planning Commission (NPC) member Chandra Mani Adhikari also stressed the need for resolving the issue at the earliest said that the ongoing turmoil has severely hurt country’s economy. “Nepal and India have a strong socio-cultural and economic bonding. There can be some differences of opinion. But that should not affect the relationship of the two nations,” Adhikari said.

Sashi Kant Agrawal, vice president of the NICCI, said that the ongoing tension between the two neighbours can have negative implications for Nepal in the long run while calling for a political solution to the problem at the earliest. “The concept of importing goods from China isn’t feasible. India is our largest trading partner with two-thirds of the country’s total trade volume taking place between the two countries,” Agrawal said.

The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) Vice President Shekhar Golchha said that the ongoing political unrest has troubled the consumers as well as business enterprises. “We are almost in a death bed. Firstly, the earthquake crippled our business, followed by this political unrest. This has left us in such a situation, from where it is very difficult for an entrepreneur to bounce back,” he said. Hari Bhakta Sharma, senior vice president of Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), termed the current situation as the worst scenario that enterpreneurs have ever experienced in their careers. “We don’t have cash to pay workers. Even if petroleum products are made available to us, we don’t have money to purchase that,” Sharma said.